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“Stop buying games that require lots of players when you don’t have any friends.” I have never felt more attacked.

"The value of the game is not the stuff you get in the box, it's the gameplay!" That's a lesson we should all take to heart!

My biggest pitfall is assuming the other members in my group are as enthusiastic about some games as much as me. So to me, the honeymoon phase is over and I've decided I love the game and have picked up the expansions and what not, but then no one else wants to play it anymore. Terraforming Mars is the biggest personal example, with my nice, laser engraved wooden player boards and resource trackers that have been used outside solo play once since I got them, so now they sit on one of my shelves gathering dust, a testament to my overeagerness.

Timestamps: 0:21 1.) Cult of the new 2:34 2.) Too many games 4:50 3.) Theme blindness 7:32 4.) Sleeving games 9:34 5.) Buying games just because a reviewer likes them 11:41 6.) Focus on amount of content for games 13:59 7.) Putting off going to board game conventions 15:51 8.) Believing heavier games are better 18:29 9.) Spending too much time on board game-adjacent activities 20:10 10.) Thinking you shouldn't hate any game

"'Crime & Punishment'; 'War & Peace.' There's four books right there!" Nicely snarked.

I think my wife puts it best, "If you didn't like the 6th farming euro, you're probably not going to like the 7th farming euro."

I agree with *almost* all of them. Except for the sleeves one. Yeah, sure, it's easy to not be overly careful with a game when living in the UK, where you can get a game at any corner for a cheap price. Here in Brazil they're so expensive that spending less than 1/20 of that price tag to protect it doesnt seem like a bad idea. Great video, tho!

I've been watching board game videos for years. I've been playing games for 50+ years. This is easily one of my all time favorites. Truly great stuff John.

Sleeving might be the target of fun but thats from the point of view of someone who lives in a region where board games are widly available and are cheap. For those like myself who live in Argentina, board games are not that easy to find and most important: They are VERY expensive. Sleeving is an easy and cheap way to preserve the game. For me if someone accidentaly damage a card from pandemic during gameplay, its really painful (A friend brought me the game from Spain) When for someone in the US they can get another copy from amazon for a few bucks.

Selective card sleeving is a life saver. The first time I re-sleeved my rare, Russian sourced, favorite game, I was amazed. The clean, brand new look of the cards (because the first set of sleeves had taken all the damage) was thrilling. It was like the game was brand new. The card sleeves took all the scratches, many years worth. Not the cards!

One of my early pitfalls was over-eagerness. I fell into the hobby hard but my group of friends? Not as into it as I was. That caused a lot of disappointment and awkward, "Oh he brought out the board games... again," moments. It led to more than a few purchases that I imagined would be fun. But it wasn't fun because nobody wanted to play them but me!

I come here for the comedy jokes first and the board games second. You're genuinely hilarious and I love you for it

It should only take you 5 episodes to warm up to the The Wire! And then you'll need another 3 in Season 2 to warm up to it again. Also, dear reader, have you not seen The Wire? Don't admit it if you hadn't - us The Wire viewers are insufferable and don't know how to shut up about it. Also, great video Jon, excellent tips. If I had my own tip, it might be to embrace "the cull". Don't worry that you might get rid of a game and then wish you still had it. Sure, that could happen, but the odds of that happening are quite low, and you might find yourself appreciating the games you still have more (when they aren't buried in games that you always skip over, because they aren't truly games you want to play - but you just can't let go of). And my other tip: watch The Wire.

Your PSA about theme blindness just hits different 😢😂 Scratch that, this entire video hits different. Every single point you made is a bullseye! These are some really great lessons.

Sleeving is useful for a very specific case - games that have some cards that get shuffled a lot, and some cards that get shuffled in with those but much more rarely. The best case here are deck builders like Dominion. Because the basic starting cards get shuffled over and over and the buyable cards see a lot less, the difference between them unsleeved fairly quickly becomes noticeable. And by "fairly quickly" I mean like at least 20 games. So yeah, sleeve your deckbuilders you play at least 20 times.

I watch most of Jon's videos and this one made me laugh, by far, the most. His British wit and sense of humor is unmatched. It's a style that isn't common in American comedy, scripted or unscripted. I imagine playing games with Jon would be fun and full of laughs. Perhaps I'll return to the UK someday soon.

Showering before bed is the correct choice. Clean sheets just feel nicer on a clean body.

I thought sleeving cards was a waste of time until I played Undaunted: Normandy with someone whose idea of shuffeling cards was to ram them together to force them into one deck. it was like watching someone crush babies, and would have marked the cards horribly - and more importantly for game play recognisably - if I hadn't intervened and quickly taught him how to loose shuffle. The next day I sleeved any game I knew I might possibly play with him.

The "heavier doesn't equal better" thing is something I've slowly started to learn. I love the more complex games, but I've found them harder to table recently because I just don't have the capacity after a day of work to play them. So I've started to err towards lighter mechanically games that still have good amounts of strategy and have really enjoyed those games.

I'd agree on everything, except sleeving. It really depends on your game group. In mine, people like to eat all sort of things while playing, with mandatory cold beverages. I could oil a pan and make some eggs using the grease from the sleeves after an ordinary play session. If I didn't sleeve the cards, they would be unreadable after two or three plays. And it is not even so much about the price, as it is about the availability of games. Some things can be very hard to find to replace. They go out of print, they are no longer available in the shops, you find it on Amazon but shipping is x3 the price of the game... So, no. Instead of forcing people to play games in sterile environment, you let people have their fun, eat, drink... but you at least sleeve the cards. So that you could play it more than 3 times and still have fun together. I literally had a guy use a card and a player mat in Root to divide tobacco and roll up a cigarette, in the middle of the game. Among other things that he did to the mat, so now it has several oily stains on it. Thankfully, it was a Vagabond mat and another one came with the expansion, so we use that one now, and the previous culprit is no longer playing games with us. Board games today ARE expensive, and many of them (especially older good ones) are hard to get after a certain point. So while I do agree on my things you said, I still absolutely sleeve every single one of my games. And I have 1 Kallax 4x3 filled with games. I don't sleeve an ordinary 52 card deck, or UNO cards - because they are cheap and I can find them everywhere. Frostpunk, This war of mine, Ark Nova etc... sorry, too expensive, too hard to find. Sleeves are cheap and efficient way of protecting your investment without infringing on anyone's night and being "mister clean".

I mostly agree with your stance on card sleeves. EVERY game does not need sleeves. Free your cards from their plastic prisons! However, I’d say SOME (very few) games benefit from sleeves. - A marked role card in a social deduction game is ruinous in my group of eagle eyed players. - When it comes to truly great but unwieldily deck builders, I find it easier to mash shuffle sleeved cards instead of endlessly preforming a classic riffle. - Sleeves can equalize the all too common manufacturing discrepancies between the cards in a base game and an expansion you LOVE. No more biasing during the shuffle. (Hands down my number one publisher pet peeve.)

After about a decade in this hobby, I finally played the castles of burgundy the other day. Was thoroughly and delightfully surprised by how clever it is and how much room there is for decision making in such a rules lite game

I find you to be such a sage and sensible voice for the board gaming hobby. I personally related to many of the pitfalls in this video. I plan to save this one and watch it in a therapeutic mode when I feel that void. I really appreciate you and I hope that we get to play a game together one day.

I successfully gave up sleeving all my games! However, I still sleeve *anything* that will require the players to shuffle their cards, because I play with my children a lot and mash shuffling sleeved cards is just so much easier for them.

Thank you, sir, for your insights. Unfortunately, I feel newbies will be so excited with the hobby, that they need to mature a bit to even hear the golden rules you've set for yourself. Once they learn some of the lessons the hard way, they'll start agreeing with what you're saying.

I sleeve cards for a few reasons. The main reasons have a common theme: shuffleing. If you need to shuffle alot and you play the game many times, the cards wear out way to quickly. Before I started using sleeves, I destroyed way too many games due to cards becoming marked from wear and tear. Depending on card quality, a good matte board game sleeve makes it more pleasent to shuffle the cards. I have had quite a few games where the cards start to stick together after a few games. But never ever buy glossy sleeves. They are not good when you shuffle, and they do make the cards harder to read.

Great video! I definitely agree with these. I think the best advice is to just have fun with it I’ve been taking since 2011 and only played a Lacerda last year (which I loved). I’ve been happy to take my time wading into the deep end lol

I've only sleeved one game. Legendary. That's because it was getting played so much and cards were wearing out that I needed to protect and standardize cards so you couldn't tell what it was based on how beat up it is. I don't think most games need sleeving though. That is just bonkers to me trying to sleeve every card in every game

Bravo! Well said! Ironically I just recently came to these realizations after 2 years of buying everything I could filling my kallaxes and spending thousands. I’m now in the process of selling games that I don’t like or don’t believe I’ll get to the table. I think I’ll need to watch this video once a week until my illness is in remission! 😁

About the fourth topic, sleeves, I kind of agree with you, but here in Brazil boardgames are expansive, so we are used to sleeve because buying a new copy is costy. Party games, in the orher hand, are much more accessible and sleeving sometimes make the playing experience bad. Also, when selling games, you can get extra bucks for having a full sleeved copy and these copies will sell faster than the ones without sleeves, even if the condition is perfect. Nice video! Cheers from Brazil! :)

I also took the deep dive into super heavy games. I tell people that heavy games are like the top of your food pyramid. You want one, maybe two, in your collection. They should be ones you *really* enjoy and it is a true treat when you get to play them. However, the bulk of one's games should be approachable mid-weight stuff, like the options you mentioned from Reiner Knizia.

I sleeve cards i know will get handled a lot. Especially if knowledge of a card will have a big impact on the game.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you Jon, I now feel less alone and I feel free at last. I don't have to hide anymore. I can shout it from the rooftops: I didn't like Wingspan! Wow, that's liberating.

I laughed so much during this video! Thank you for keeping gamers' pitfalls light while speaking the very truths most of us go through :)

Sleeving makes sense for collectible card games, where the cardboard rectangles you're playing with can be crazy expensive. And you only need to sleeve about 60 of those cards. With board games either you hate the game very quickly and sell it as a whole (you're getting 2nd hand prices anyway), or you'll love it so much the battle scars will be awesome after years of use. I still have some of my older games sleeved, because I gave in to the craze when I started. Protip: if you love the game so much it gets destroyed from use, you'll be able to get second, mint copy for about the same amount of money you would have spent on sleeves.

Loved your video. The only thing I slightly disagree on is that sometimes games do grow on you the more you play them. I’ve had that happen with many games. Come to think of it though, it’s often because of an extension, e.g. Wingspan-Oceania, Arnak-Missing expedition, Viticulture-Tuscany, I could go on. Sometimes though, getting extensions can be overwhelming if you don’t play a game often, e.g. I got everything Spirit Island and I should of waited to have played more before I did that. Now I feel overwhelmed by it, by all the Spirits to choose from, by the scenarios and adversaries.

As someone who is new to the hobby I look for what people have written or said was their favorite games in previous years, and then look up those games. What people loved in 2015 won't be talked about now, but it's as "new" to me as anything else coming out! (And usually cheaper though can also be out of print)

Rule #8 is one that I've recently learned for myself. I realized that the best games, for me, are the ones with minimal setup, easy to learn, but hard to master. Light medium is my sweet spot. Games like Dominion, Takenoko, and Arboretum are just my type

Some very useful advice in this video. I have not been at the board gaming hobby as long as you, but I've started to make a LOT of these realizations as well. I recently started to pare down my collection for the first time, and it has been such a relief on my soul. I thought I wanted to have all my games forever, so they could ALWAYS come down for another play one day. But there is a cost to the space and mental load they take up in your life as well, that I was not factoring in.

Very helpful & entertaining video!! Speaking as someone new to the hobby I appreciate the tips on this video and the similar one you made last year. It's hard to stay grounded and just take it slow with the excitement of seeing so many different types of experiences.

I sleeve because it keeps the game in better condition in case I decide to trade or sell it in the future. And I've gotten better about not sleeving cheap card games or party games or things like that. Personally, I see a lot more anti-sleeve bashing and rarely sleevers being snobby to non-sleevers.

One of your best Jon! Thank you for telling it like it is and being articulate while doing so. Also “I didn’t like the games either” got a rare actually laugh out of me

Really great list. Those kickstarter campaigns can be so shiny and tempting! As for your remarks on sleeving, I generally agree. There are very rare exceptions when you might want to sleeve a game, like if it's out of print *and* it's your number one all time favorite.

Great video as always! I think these are great cautionary tails for individuals in the hobby to keep in mind... along with their very individual interests! I do enjoy having a larger collection for instance, because I do enjoy great variety and I do enjoy playing games with themes that I connect with (theme can make up for gameplay that I would otherwise feel is not quite my favourite). However, that does come with it some indecision about what to play (too many options) and difficulty getting some games that are just good with my gaming partners who may not feel the same way about the theme.

There are scenarios where sleeving is almost necessary though 😅 we bought the last expansion to Dune Imperium which changes a card in your starting hand and because we played the game so much it’s now absolutely obvious to everyone around the table if you have that card in hand 😅 and even with party games it can be important. Some cards in copy of top ten got scratched pretty badly and now you would know who has the 4 😂 I do feel a bit attacked though 😂 great video

I will say, I think you should consider sleeving games that are card-based and see HEAVY play in your gaming groups. And if you've invested in it with expansions. But if it's not a game you play a ton, it's not worth sleeving it.

One of your best videos Jon. Your insights were good and the jokes were really on point. I think I've fallen prey to every one of these over the last decade. But I think I'm past most of them - I have only sleeved maybe 2 games in the last 2 years, I've not bought several Star Wars games, I've only been sucked into one big box Kickstarter, and I've bought far more second hand classics than new unproven games. I do need to get to a convention - but they're pretty rare where I live

Thanks for the enjoyable and entertaining video. At least I’ve only fallen into some of the pitfalls, and not all of them😂. I try to mix up my game collection for the different groups of people and size of group I’ll be playing with. I find that even mid-weight games don’t come to the table that often because of the learning curve for the group and availability of players for a mid-weight or complex game. I’m also going to fill the void by playing some solo board games.

"... you woundn´t only recommend book released in the last year". You´re so right. I´m still reading clay tablet now and again ;)

One of my friends has very very sweaty hands. We played a game of thrones session and afterwards it looked like the house cards were dipped in water. I now sleeve all my games..... I can't trust us cavemen to keep the cards clean.

This video was randomly recommended to me, and it's very good. I found myself nodding along with a lot of the entries. The one that stood out to me, and the one I'm probably the most guilty of, is the sleeving one. I generally get the reason for why not to sleeve board game cards; it can take up extra space so the game doesn't fit in the box, it takes up a ton of time that you could spend just playing the game, and upkeeping the sleeves if they get damaged can be a huge hassle and be expensive. However, I get really anxious about the cards in my board game getting damaged, and sleeving feels like it helps ease my concerns. I also find sleeving somewhat relaxing to do when I'm just idly watching KZfaq, and I enjoy the feel of sleeved cards in my hand. I might like the feel of sleeved cards better than non-sleeved because when I touch a non-sleeved card I just get nervous I'm leaving some sort of residue on it or might damage it in some way. With that in mind, would you still discourage the effort because of the relevant downsides? Maybe I should only sleeve games that are particularly important to me, and if that's the case, how do you think I should determine which games are worth sleeving for? I can't sleeve every board game, obviously, because so many board games have cards with unique shapes and dimensions that they might not make sleeves for, but if a card can fit snugly in a standard sleeve, I feel like there's an argument to be made both for and against sleeving it.

Your humour is the best among any board game content I've seen on YT. It's very subtle and not too on the nose, just perfect for a good laugh at the witiness. Cheers 🙂

I continue watching your videos because of how real you are with everything. I don't always agree with your opinions, and I dont want to (I think Betrayal at House on the Hill is an awesome game). The reason I come to your channel is because I feel like you talk about things we all need to hear if we are in the hobby. And you do it without making anyone feel bad (unless someone doesnt understand when you're joking) about the games that they enjoy. Thanks for this video! Makes me question a couple of my recent Kickstarter forays 😆

Great video, Jon. Very neatly explained a lot of things I've thought and felt while adding a lot of laughs. I'm a big fan of your channel.

Especially the one with the reviewers is something I really can relate to since I'm quite new to the boardgame hobby (a few years) and you were one of the boardgame guys I watched right from the beginning. Took me a while until I realised that you have a specific taste. I bought some of your recommendations and like them but there's quite a bunch of (kind of) games you never mention which I like and probably aren't just for you. I think you have an original taste of boardgames and I like coming back for your recommendations.

Great video! I recognize many of the pitfalls that you mention... over the years I've learned which games I play most and which ones I like best. I've bought and sold many games. I've never sleeved cards... it's an unpopular opinion, but I kind of like it when a game starts to look used... it means I've played it many, many times and enjoyed it a lot... it's a memory of all the fun times I had with it.

Great list! I'm about 50/50 with you/against you. I definitely agree with Theme Blindness and expansion content. I used to collect every 'fantasy'-themed game I could find when I first entered the hobby, and soooo many of them were just simply not good. Back in the original days of big CMON KS projects, I was all about the all-in pledges, though I think I've only ever used all of that content once, in one single game, in the years since. These days I am mostly a base-game only person. Now, on the other side of the aisle, I am definitely in disagreement regarding sleeves. 😆 It isn't even about the protection any more, it's actually so much easier and more satisfying to shuffle cards when they're sleeved. And a handful of plastic is, for me, more satisfying than a handful of cardstock. I do have rules for sleeves, however. I won't sleeve a game where the cost of the sleeves is almost as much as the game itself. Board game conventions is one of the other ones. I'll attend a few local cons just to change up the scenery so game night isn't always in my basement, but mostly it feels like I'm paying an attendance fee to do the same thing I can do for free at home. I'm still surrounded by games, surrounded by people who are enjoying themselves playing games, have access to my own "facilities", all the food, drinks, and snacks that I could want, and don't have to drive/walk anywhere. Also, most of my game group are casual gamers who wouldn't pay to attend a con just to play games with me there, and I always feel awkward when I do attend a con and ask them to come with me. Sure there are vendors and other gamers you could play with, but I don't know that paying a fee to be granted the privilege of shopping or playing games with other gamers is worth it. But again, I do still go to a few local cons to switch up the atmosphere from time to time.

"There is War and Peace, Crime and Punishment, that's four great books right there." Laughed way too hard on that one.

Great shout on the sleeves. I stopped doing it some time ago and de-sleeved what I had. Back came the feel of the cards and the wonderful artwork.

I'm pretty new to the hobby, and already I'm guilty of many of these. But you got to me just in time. I definitely take your advice to heart and have worked to keep these issues in check. Thank you for this video! Love your other videos as well!

I actually start sleeving with dune imperium. Deckbuilding is an important aspect of the game, and I noticed some cards were getting worn pretty fast, allowing to identify it into your deck. I like try hard games, and my usual group of player like it to. And knowing witch card could come because it's worned out might be massive. I agree that it makes them hard to stack properly but it looked unavoidable here to have the experience me and my friend wanted. And I do not regret it still. I also sleeved the game Glow, witch I find verry nice looking. I like are as much as I like game. So why not sleeving it ? Yes, it might be worned by any means anyway, but what's wrong sleeving it anyway ? In the other hand, I won't sleeve any party game. Having worned card in those one doesn't really matter to me because it's meant to be played more casually. The point of the game and the way I enjoy it is different, that is all. You seems to disapprove sleeving, but isn't it because you used to push it too far ? Because you set it as a duty and if wasn't really somthing you enjoyed anymore ? What I want to say in general, is that I disapprouve any good thinking rules that tries to patronise the way you should enjoy games. There are no rules that is right for everyone in every situation. Do the things you like as long as it's not harmfull for others. Love tho everyone. Sleevers or not and everything in the middle ! And have fun !

I love sleeving games. I frankly really dislike playing games without sleeves on them. And I do, definitely, find that my cards survive much better with the sleeves. And I really prefer the touch feel and *absolutely* the shuffle feel of sleeved cards. It is crazy to me that people don't like sleeving.

I stumbled across this video in my feed. I had not heard of you before this. Like what I saw, so have a new subscriber. Cheers,

again, your video hits me on so many points 😂 Your channel is the only one I found that dare to spit out the reality of board game hobby. Another great one Jon. Thank you for the reminders.

Sorry to hear you didn’t enjoy Twilight Struggle as much as me and my partner - it’s our favorite 2p game, and the gameplay for us is sooooo evocative of the push and pull tension of the Cold War! (Though it took until the third play for us to really groove with it, haha… so I can’t say I don’t understand your experience 🙃) But! Your point about light games being equally fun is spot on 💯👌🏼 We recently got Lost Cities after seeing it in one of your reviews, and it’s already #2 on our Best 2PG list 🙌🏼 Every time we play it, we end up playing 2-3 more rounds than we expected to, so… thanks! 🙏🏼

Thank you for this video! I've been in the hobby for 7 years and am finally "calming down" haha. My collection is at 166 games and I want to cull it down to 100 and keep it there.

Sage advice indeed :-) What a great video - one everyone should watch! My taste in games doesn't always align with yours but I do trust your reviews and appreciate your perspective and wit 👍. Well done - and a happy new year!

Excellent points very well stated… I’m having a hard time understanding how the algorithm took until now to put your content on my feed. Instant subscribe from this video alone, and I had to swing back after watching two other videos to write this. Great work, and I’m looking forward to watching more of your content! 😊

I love the sense of humor. Especially the ones about the board game reviewers lol

Not to be reductive, but to immediately realize I'm lying to myself and be reductive anyways, I find 99% of euro games regardless of how rules heavy they are can usually all be reduced to the one strategy being "either do the thing you want to do or can do, or do the thing you think your opponent wants or can do so they can't do that" and reviewers seem blown away by the brilliance of this mechanic for what feels like the last forty years. I've found opening myself up to games with a 6/10 on BGG is where all the games that don't do that are hiding. It took me fifteen years in the board game hobby to discover this. It turns out the BGG hive mind generally agrees on the most familiar and safe games usually in terms of mechanics, and that makes sense that the safest (and perhaps least exciting design-wise) games would score a 7+ because the website is an aggregate where naturally the safest designs are on top.

I'm really happy about your tip about going to cons. Nearly 15 years into the hobby, and I'm finally going to my first in March. Dice Tower West in Las Vegas. I'm so excited!

I think this is the best video you've ever made. I've had some of these thoughts before about games, and you have now validated them.

😂😂😂 Instead of watching a KZfaq video, I feel a mirror has been held up to my face! This video so hit the mark. I think it was when I was just getting into the hobby, you posted a similar video about these pitfalls. Then, I told myself that this will never happen to me. At that time I had about 25 games in a collection, and thought I would max out at 50....who would ever need more. Today I have almost 200!😅 Well, at least the only pitfall I haven't succumbed to is needing the heavier games. I stopped at ones rated around 3.75 on BGG, and now if I see one rated over a 3, I am dubious. Thanks for the great content!

Superb video Mr JP. Love how this video litterally took 10 + years of being a board gamer to compile. Bang on sir.

The lube bag came out of left field and I snorted hard loll. Also, I'm amazed how accurately you hit many of things I've been falling into as a relatively new (3-4 yrs or so) boardgamer. A few months ago I found myself on the otherside of the "heavy games are better" hump looking to find light and medium games that I love. Thx for this

Thank you! I am constantly falling into several of these pitfalls ...

I don't habitually sleeve. But when I bought Heat, I also forked out for suitable sleeves as a one-off. I knew I was going to get a lot of pub-play from the game, and my Flamme Rouge cards are kinda manky by now from similar amounts of love. Plus, the box insert is designed to accommodate sleeves, so no lid lift or whatever. I can't see myself sleeving any other game though

Super advice. Totally accurate in my experience. If you love games themselves--not just the social interaction--give solo gaming a try. I play almost exclusively solo, and it can help satisfy your desire to engage games so you don't keep shopping and sleeving to feed the hunger.

This was really great. These are Al things that many realize too late in the hobby. I am working on refining my collection and slimming it down

Beautiful irony that right after watching your first point about "Cult of the New", my KZfaq immediately cut to an ad for an upcoming board game Kickstarter! 😄

For point 1 I’m actually the opposite. I avoid the new games and always have, because I want the classics that everyone knows. Instead of some random kickstarters

I sleeve because we used to have someone in our group that would literally leave a film of black specks on the cards he handled and thought licking his fingers of Cheeto dust was an acceptable alternative to washing his hands. No one wants to handle cards that are like that, and it's easier for me to clean or replace the sleeves than it is to to try replace the cards that were ruined otherwise.

My biggest tip is: Holes in your collection exist for a reason. They aren't meant to be filled. It's not a blind spot, it's a type of game you clearly don't want.

Man this is such a good, well structured video. Humour on point, set looks great. And your points are so valid. Your content is wicked man, keep it up.

You deserved your subscribe when you learned that your sleeves' cost would have gotten you a vacation for two for a place you haven't been to yet. Great comedy, great truths.

I really like the more mature (jaded?) outlook on games you've acquired over the course of the years in your videos. In many ways, it parallels my own changing viewpoints -- the older me much prefers games with less complexity via rules -- 30+ page rulebooks are no longer a sign of deep gameplay and are more likely a red flag.

This whole video really speaks to me, especially number 8. I finally came to the same conclusion of complicated isn't' always more enjoyable in the last year or two. I laughed to myself when you revealed Lost Cities, Ra, and The Quest for El Dorado, because I purchased all three of those in 2023 and have loved them haha.

Primeiro, parabéns pelo vídeo, ficou sensacional, simples, divertido e com dicas realmente uteis. Sao pontos difíceis de perceber quando você entra no hobby, eu tinha uma lista gigante de backlog pra comprar antes de ter essa iluminacao de que eu nao preciso de todos esses jogos e sim jogos do estilo que eu gosto e que meu grupo tambem jogue. Valeu, dei muitas risadas vendo o video 😂

For me, I sleeve my cards because a lot of my friends and myself can't shuffle properly without them. Every time we'd play Coup for example, we could almost count cards to know what everyone had.

All of these are great points. I will defend sleeving cards for games that are rare or out of print, but otherwise you're 100% right on everything in this video.

Your best video yet! I too am curtailing my purchases and getting ready to cull a few hundred games for the reasons you mentioned. Thanks for the advise.

You make the BEST insightful boardgame videos I have seen, very very true points. And great advice! Thank you for bringing more joy to the boardgame world!

Less than 5 minutes in and DiCaprio and Pigeons are catching strays from all directions LOL

Some prime actualol zingers in here, the dad joke genes are already kicking!

YEESSS! Agreed. Learning some of these lessons early is very, very helpful. I’ll have to try a convention some day.

Love your takes. As a compulsive sleever I agree with your sleeving analysis but can't stop😂

I really missed your videos, but I really hope everything Is going spectacular with your daughter

On the sleeves though, I do find it generally easier to shuffle cards when they are sleeved.

Haha poor Bonus Efka Wonderful video, by the way! I wish I had this in my life about 2 years earlier when I got into the hobby. I learned the hard way about a lot of these issues you brought up. This video is a useful tool for anyone in the hobby.